Recently, a former chairman of Dean Foods Co. who pleaded guilty to participating in an insider trading scheme admitted to a judge that he tossed a cellphone into the creek near his Dallas home.

Tom C. Davis is alleged to have provided trading tips to sports gambler and longtime friend William "Billy" Walters in exchange for loans, business opportunities and investment capital.

According to transcripts from Davis’ plea hearing, Bloomberg News reported, Davis lied to investigators when FBI agents visited his home on May 28, 2014, and asked the executive whether he had passed nonpublic information to Walters.

But he later said Walters gave him a cellphone to use to pass on tips.

"After the FBI visited my home, I knowingly destroyed the prepaid cellular phone that Billy Walters had previously provided me," Davis told U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel at the hearing. "I attempted to dispose of the cellular phone by throwing it into a creek near my home in Dallas."

The men tried to keep their dealings private by using the prepaid mobile phone and speaking in code, referring to Dean Foods as the "Dallas Cowboys."

Walters used the information he received from Davis to suggest to pro golfer Phil Mickelson that he also should bet on Dean Foods. Mickelson, who isn't accused of any wrongdoing, agreed to pay back almost $1 million that he earned in profits from his trades.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said Walters profited by about $43 million from Davis' insider tips.